SUMMARY - doere170013

ERDC TN-DOER-E17

September 2004

Draft Version 1 of the plan (and the database) will be completed during the fall and winter of

2004-2005 and will be made available for review by the full WG. Following this review, the US

Monitoring Working Group of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) will

arrange an independent scientific peer review of the plan.1 The plan will be revised thereafter and

will be distributed prior to the 2005 ILT breeding season. The first annual report will be prepared

by the coordinator by December 2005, reviewed by the working group, and distributed to all

interested parties by March of 2006.

Once the ILT monitoring plan has been completed and reviewed, the next phase will be the

implementation of monitoring efforts. Corps districts will need to contribute time and funding to

achieve monitoring implementation, and efforts should continue as collaborative efforts with

other agencies and organizations.

SUMMARY: The Corps, the ABC, and the USFWS organized a workshop on April 14-15, 2004

at which, among other accomplishments, attendees initiated the formation of an "Interior Least

Tern Monitoring Working Group." The working group was created to allow widespread partici-

pation in the development and execution of a comprehensive monitoring plan, while incorporat-

ing the technical expertise of working group members from areas throughout the range of the

ILT in this process. Participation in the working group will help to ensure coordination at large

spatial scales. Workshop participants identified four major topics that need to be discussed in

detail and addressed in the monitoring plan: 1) survey methods for counting adults;

2) productivity data collection; 3) incorporation of habitat data; and 4) investigation of large-

scale population dynamics. In all cases, relevant information on these topics will be presented in

the plan and a database will be designed to query the data necessary to address these concerns.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Information from this technical note was derived from input by

numerous persons from the Corps, USFWS, and USGS. Special thanks to Dr. Jon Bart, USGS,

for technical guidance and input on the monitoring plan, and Mr. Joseph Wilson, Headquarters

CE, for Divisional support and guidance. Report reviews were provided by Ms. Julie Marcy

(ERDC-EL) and Ms. Dena Dickerson (ERDC-EL).

POINTS OF CONTACT: For additional information, contact Dr. Michael P. Guilfoyle (601-

634-3432, ) or the manager of the Dredging

Operations and Environmental Research Program, Dr. Robert M. Engler (601-634-3624,

). This technical note should be cited as follows:

Guilfoyle, Michael P., Fischer, R. A., Pashley, D. N., and Lott, C. (2004). "Summary of Interior

Least Tern Research And Monitoring Workshop," DOER Technical Notes Collection (TN

DOER-E17), U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.

Personal Communication. J. Bart, Chair, NABCI Working Group, USGS.